A law that took effect this week will either defend the state process of awarding public contracts from abuse by unions or do nothing but make Republican legislators feel good. It all depends on who you ask.

Private-sector unions have a long history in America, and apart from occasional problems involving union violence, mob racketeering, and intimidation by union bosses of rank-and-file workers, they have often served as a legitimate part of the American workplace.

Fixing billion dollar budet deficits is difficult enough. It’s a whole lot harder when public officials are working on the political math of their re-election instead of on their duties to the electorate.

The majority of spending that can be directly attributed to the landmark legal ruling that allows corporations, unions and other groups to spend freely on candidate campaigns largely affected Republicans in the Arizona primary election.